DONAT GETS LEGEND TREATMENT

For his ongoing series “Philip French’s Screen Legends,” begun in January 2008 on the Guardian’s website, the British film critic has been profiling the “great actors in film, choosing their key works and assessing their legacy,” in neat little encapsulations. Such luminaries as Catherine Deneuve, Michael Redgrave, Jean Gabin, Margaret Lockwood, and Celia Johnson have already received their due, and this week he adds, at number 54, the debonair Oscar winner Robert Donat. Not exactly a household name today, Donat in the 1930s was one of the “two British actors . . . most in demand by our crisis-ridden film industry,” along with Leslie Howard, writes French, and was considered by no less an eminence than Charles Laughton as “the most graceful actor of our time.” Known to Hitchcock aficionados for his sly and sarcastic leading man in The 39 Steps, Donat can also be seen in our upcoming Eclipse Series 16: Alexander Korda’s Private Lives, playing the lover of Henry VIII’s fifth wife in The Private Life of Henry VIII.

Recent Comments

“I sent out my defective "Summer Hours" disc on Friday, March 13 and received my replacement copy in the mail on Monday, March 30. No complaints here! I really wasn't expecting the replacement copy . . .”

“I cried a lot in the last part of Brief Encounter, since I related it to my personal story with a very special person in my life, all those words coming and go between the characters, I have felt . . .”

“While I feel that this film is a tad over long, they probably could have shaved off a good 20 minutes from the first act, I do believe this is Michael Bay's best film. The action is great, the plot . . .”

“Okay, I must be in the minority then, I thought the opening narration was excellent set up and was a good introduction into the theme. Perhaps some are taking "show don't tell" too seriously. There . . .”